ATG NewsChannel Original: Academic Library Publishing, Part 1: Changing Times, Changing Roles | Against The Grain

"Today’s academic library is surprisingly different from what it was just ten years ago. For years, spurred on by the internet as the communications channel, librarians have sought to maximize the potential of this new medium. Extreme price increases from commercial academic journal publishers created financial stress on collection budgets, diminishing access to the scholarly record. Librarians responded with efforts such as setting up repositories to house digitized or PDF versions of dissertations and other scholarly works, supporting and promoting the development of Open Access (OA) journals, and, more recently, supporting Open Data requirements from funding sources. In order to support the increasing campus need for publishing services to support the development of new publication venues within the academy, libraries of today are advancing projects and redefining their missions. 'In the earlier years of the Web,' note UC-Berkeley researchers Julie LeFevre and Terence Huwe in a recent article, 'libraries focused on moving services online and building digital collections, but in recent years, libraries have emerged as key players in the world of digital publishing.' The authors go on to note that 'librarians already possess the requisite skills to become digital publishers, and the collaborative culture of the library profession is a strength for this new role' ..."